SOUTHERN NORWAY - NORDIC EXPEDITION Part 3/3 – Trollstigen, Geiranger, Preikestolen, Lysevegen

North of the Arctic Circle, where the wild beauty of Finland meets the majestic landscapes of Norway, lies an unforgettable journey waiting to unfold. Experience this exhilarating motorcycle adventure with me as we set out to reach the legendary North Cape on the longest day of the year. My journey began amidst the tranquil forests of Finland, where the whispering pines and rolling hills stretch as far as the eye can see. For three days, I traversed over a thousand kilometers on lonely gravel roads, weaving through the dense woodland and tracing the border with Russia. It was a test of endurance and skill as I immersed myself into the raw beauty of the Arctic landscape. Crossing the Arctic Circle, I find myself in a realm where the daylight never ends. Here, the sun hangs high in the sky, painting the world in hues of gold and amber, as if time itself has stood still. It's a surreal experience to ride beneath the never-ending light to lose myself in the vastness of the northern wilderness. I witnessed nature's grandeur at its peak, experiencing the midnight sun on the longest day of the year at the North Cape. And when I finally reach my destination, standing on the northernmost point of Europe, I'm greeted by the mesmerizing sight of the midnight sun casting its golden glow upon the icy waters below. With the North Cape behind me, I turn my wheels southward, tracing the rugged coastline of Norway. Along the way, I encounter wonders beyond imagination, from the majestic peaks and mesmerizing landscapes of Lofoten Islands to witnessing the world's strongest tidal current. In the third and last part, I will explore Norway's southwest including the heights of the iconic Tolstegen Road, the incredible views from the Preikestolen, and the Løsevegen Road, renowned as one of the most thrilling serpentine routes in Norway near the Løsefjord. It's another day and I've got about a 420 kilometer ride for today. I'm in the city of Nasmos. It's not a very big town, but it's got a nice harbor and I stayed sort of close to the downtown shopping area. And I had an early arrival yesterday because I caught all my four ferries and I was planning for some extra time that if I didn't catch them, I could get here somewhat late at night. But it all worked out perfectly. I've got a single ferry ride today. So it's a beautiful drive along the coastline. It's going to be somewhat similar to that. I'll be going into the vicinity of Trondheim today. I won't be going into the city because usually I'm not really keen on visiting cities when I'm on tours like this. About half an hour after I left, it's starting to rain. So I saw the clouds in the sky. I was wondering how soon it's going to start raining. And here we are. It's raining. The good thing is you get a bit of a pre-warning. You can smell the rain. You get that, you know, typical rain smell. So it gives you time when the first drizzles are coming down. It gives you time to pull over. I had changed my gloves. I still had the summer gloves on. These are a bit more weather-protected. And then I closed all my vents. It's also getting colder. I started off at 23 degrees and it's 18 now with the rain. So this little by-road, the 715, this little detour from the Route 17, is such a beautiful road. The scenery is stunning. The road's kind of fun because the curves go up and down the mountain a little bit. You know, I always keep talking to people when I went for the ferries and it was one of those ferries, a nice Norwegian guy that was traveling with his cousin. And he told me about this specific road. It looks very straight here on the map. He said it's very scenic. He says if I have to travel one road close to Trondheim, it would be this one. Luckily, I already planned for that. I don't know why, but I did. So I'm going down there and it's a straight shot down to... Almost a straight shot. It's a straight shot down to almost Trondheim. Okay, this is where my ferry leaves. I need to cross to over there. I met this Norwegian rider here on the 390 KTM. Perfect. So I'm just coming from the coastline. Coming to this, so there's a lot less high mountains here. There's lots of farming going on. Landscape really changed. I'm curious to see where I booked my next location. I think it should be in some kind of a fjord. Yeah. It's amazing, these ferries. This is an electric one. I see the chargers coming out. Oh, wow. I've never seen that before. So it actually has this automatic charging thing that connects. That is really interesting. I've never seen that before. I don't know if it's just getting ready for it or if it's happening. Oh, yeah, it's happening. It's happening. It's automatically finding the plug. There you go, and it charges. Wow. So I met Hans Christian here in front of me. He's from Oslo. And we decided to go for a few kilometers together. So we need to find a gas station. He knows where one is. It's kind of fun to ride with locals. As my second Norwegian rider I'm riding with. It's just going to be short distance today because I'm very close to my destination. And you guys get to see how Norwegians do it. I'm not sure what his problem was. He didn't like us passing him. That's the first thing I have to say. It's so far that Norwegians are pretty chill when you pass them with this guy. I don't know. There's always that person, I guess, no matter where you go. We think it's about full. There's still a lot more that goes in. We're going here? Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, let's do that. I'll just follow you. Okay. That sounds good. We're going to go toward the fjord most of us. Yeah, yeah, that's good. And it's nice to be close to a fjord like that again. I hope there's less mosquitoes. We'll see about that when I'm at the hotel. I am coming up to my place and Hans is going to continue on for short distance more. 8.30 in the morning. It's time to go. This is my accommodation for last night. I had a nice little sheltered parking spot for my bike. I've got about 430 kilometers and I'm at basically the most northern point of the tour I had last year. Now I'm going to have the next few days and travel to the southwestern part of Norway where the fjords are a prime spot to see. I'm going to retrace some of the steps of last tour, some of the areas that I really liked. It's going to start off with the Tolstien, probably the most famous pass road here in Norway. Wow, just minutes after leaving the hotel and the sun's coming out. I mean this area, the southwest of Norway, is definitely known for its high density of very very scenic spots and it's not like the rest of Norway isn't very scenic but especially here, you know, the high mountains, water, the buildings. It's just absolutely spectacular. Yeah, I know why I picked this road. It's what it looked like on the map. Curvy road along the water. What I didn't see is that it has a view like this. Wow, that's amazing. This is the start of the Tolstien waterfall. It's so cool because you can't hold people for stopping in the middle of the road, which is cool. Someone having a hard time with the hairpin turns there. So here we are on that bridge in front of the waterfall. It's super impressive. I was here last year, of course, but never stops to impress. Really cool. Tolstien is a mountain pass featuring 11 hairpin bends that wind up steep mountain slopes. It offers breathtaking views of cascading waterfalls, sheer cliffs and rugged mountains. Known as the Troll's Road, it ranks among Norway's most popular tourist routes, drawing visitors with its breathtaking scenery and thrilling drive experience. Go! Jesus. Quick ferry ride. A winding toll road ascends to the summit of Dalsnibba mountain, reaching nearly 1500 meters in elevation. The Geiranger Skywalk, inaugurated in 2016, stands as Norway's highest fjord viewpoint accessible by vehicle, offering a stunning panorama of the UNESCO-listed Geiranger fjord. Additionally, it provides a picturesque vista of the winding road leading down to the fjord level. Now I'm heading to what was one of my favorite roads that we did. And I cannot pronounce it correctly. I'm not sure what I'm saying. But it's the only one that wasn't paved. It was hard packed dirt and the scenery was absolutely spectacular. So I'm going back. And initially I had the idea to go back the exact same way. But I'm going to go back the other way. So I'm going to do this in reverse as from last time. Yeah, really cool here. Absolutely spectacular. Nice. Gamle Strønjefellsvegen is a historic mountain road in Norway, constructed in the late 19th century. Spanning 27 kilometers, its winding route traverses stunning landscapes, offering travelers breathtaking views of the surrounding terrain. Although superseded by a newer road in 1978, it retains its timeless charm and offers superior vistas. Branching directly off road 15, which connects the towns of Lom and Geiranger, making it the scenic byroad for travelers. Opting for the westward entry, I embarked on my second journey along this picturesque road, soaking in its natural beauty along almost its entire length. On the final leg of my journey to my accommodation, I made a brief stop at the Boyer-Breen Glacier in Fjärland, renowned as the most easily accessible and spectacular of the glacier arms on the Jostedal-Breen Glacier, the largest glacier in continental Europe. My lodging for the night was another beautiful fjord hotel in the town of Laikanga, which had one of the nicest rooms of my Norwegian stay. From my room, I enjoyed a good view of the fjord and the hotel pier, where I enjoyed my first welcome beer while taking in the breathtaking fjord panorama. It's eight o'clock in the morning, and I've got about 400 kilometers to go, and I'm not sure what the weather is going to be like. It will rain at some parts, I'm sure. Today I'm retracing my steps of last year's tour, and I'm going to go through some of the areas that I've never been to before. I really like, the Gaulerfjellet is one of them. It's a sort of high mountain plateau and sort of really like the scenery around it. I'll be going along the Hardangerfjord and then still trying to make my way south again a little bit. Temperatures at the moment is at 16 degrees. It's probably going to stay around that. Whoa, got me a little surprised. Gaulerfjellet, that's where I'm going. So it's definitely raining last night. It's pretty obvious here, it's still wet. In order to get up to Gaulerfjellet, that high mountain plateau, you get to go up this nice curvy mountain road. The last time I was here, we came from the other way, so we went this down. Always thought it'd be nice to go up. You can actually see the viewing platform straight ahead up on that mountain top. Oh, and there's more traffic than just cars. It's chilling. Little guys. Yeah, temperatures dropped quite a bit. And here we are. Nice. The viewpoint at Gaulerfjellet provides stunning vistas of the surrounding landscape. Offering a clear sideline to the 1,500 meter high mountains and deep canyons, the viewing platform perches on the mountain's edge suspended 700 meters above sea level. This is what it looks like up here. Oh, wow. Way up in the clouds. We're at about 700 meters above sea level. So it's not super high, but high enough to be in the clouds right now. And it's very moist up here, lots of moisture. So that's a very different experience. Last time we had excellent visibility. Clouds are high up and the visibility is good. Let's see what the rest of it looks like. Gaulerfjellet might be one of the lesser known scenic routes in Norway, but it left a lasting impression on me during my previous visit. That's why I was keen to return. As I descended and emerged from the clouds, visibility improved significantly. From the Gaulerfjellet viewpoint, the road follows the river Gauler, a protected water course offering everything from waterfalls and wild rapids to calm stretches where the water flows peacefully along. So it's just a short tunnel, but I've had a lot of those during this trip here. Lots of tunnels. Beach and timing. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, that's like killer timing. Hi. Good timing. Well, this is a narrow section of the E16. I just went past my accommodation for tonight because I have a little bit of time. I have an early arrival today, so I'm going to check out the next town that's just further down the road. I got my brights on. I have my visor open, I can barely see anything. Talk about a dark tunnel. Holy cow. And there's a place called Superviewpoint. Something, it's closed supposedly, but I mean, if it's Superviewpoint, let's see how super it is and how long I can follow this path here. Oh, check this out. Oh, wow. Oh my God. How cool is that? How cool is this? Damn. This has to be the coolest place I've been to here. Wow. It's just no one up here. That landscape here. Oh, wow. There's even snow on the road. Interesting, interesting. Hello. This is crazy. Crazy, yeah. We think the road has an end here. Yeah. Where are you from? Austria. I'm from Germany. Oh, you're from Germany. Okay. Wow, you've been all the way here. Yeah. You've been all the way here, right? Berlin. You've been all the way from Germany? Yeah, yeah. I was up in the North Cape. I'm back on the road again. It's crazy. Yeah. By chance, I just had a little time. I was like, let's see what else is here. Yeah, me too. And then it goes up and all of a sudden it looks like this. It's totally crazy, right? It's beautiful. It's crazy. Down there, down there is the Dandener. That's where the snow is. So it's the snow. Crazy. It's really crazy. Have fun. I'll see what's going on up there. You too. Yeah, you too. Yeah, I don't think I'm going through this. Yeah. It's full of snow here still. So, it's as far as I got. Not bad. I wasn't expecting to see roads like this at all. And now here, good thing to take a little detour. Very impressive area here. Yeah, but I'm not trying to go through the snow. Oserfjellet is a mountain peak rising to an elevation of 1,219 meters above sea level, nestled in the Westerland County. The road to its summit is predominantly paved with some sections of hard pack near the peak. Starting from the town of Ulvik, Oserfjelletvegen is a dead-end route, even without the large snowfield obstructing passage. Although not initially part of my itinerary, I arrived early in Ulvik and decided to explore this road out of curiosity. The journey rewarded me with some of the most breathtaking scenery I encountered during my time in Norway. Characterized by numerous hairpin turns, the narrow and steep road offers gradients that peak at 16%. Riding along this route, both ascending and descending, proved to be an amazing experience. This is Tony, the bartender at my accommodation who kindly showed me some Norwegian currency. Damn. Little did I know at the time that we would end up spending the better part of the night drinking and chatting. Today is going to be a short ride. A short ride still means four and a half hours and 300 kilometers. I'm going to Preikestolen and the whole idea is if I can get there and the weather is still okay, I may go out for a hike. The forecast doesn't look so good. So I'll just see when I get there. Last night I was staying at this Fjord Hotel. It's the only one that I had on the last tour last year. I stayed in the exact same room by chance and I kind of befriended the bartender. And after his shift was over, we spent until almost 2.30 in the morning looking at the Fjord, drinking, chatting. So this is a late morning for me. It's 10 o'clock, so it's a late start, but it looks good by now, so let's go. It's called the Padanger Bridge. I saw that yesterday when I was going through these crazy tunnels which are just behind the actual bridge. This is cool. In order to get to the bridge, you have to first go into a tunnel and then there's this roundabout in the tunnel that takes three tunnel tubes basically, connects that roundabout, and one of them will take you to the bridge. Something red lights in there? Let's see. I have to take a left. And this tunnel tube is closed. Interesting. So I came from the other side where the camper van's coming, but somehow that road is closed. And I guess the truck figured that one out too. Anyway, crazy roundabout, cool lighting in here. There's a few of those here in Norway. This is where the waterfall goes straight under the street. I think I've seen photos of it. Ooh, this is nice though. The twin waterfall Lattefossen in the Oder Valley has a height of 165 meters and has been a popular travel destination since the 19th century. The waterfall is easily accessible, located directly by the main road 13 between Oder and Rødal. This is very, very impressive. The force of nature. Yes, very cool. The amounts of water coming down. Very cool, I got to see this. We didn't have time for this last year. There's so many places here, including this one, that stretches over many, many kilometers. It's this vast landscape. Whoa. Oh, this, ah, ah, where'd it go? Maybe that's just big enough for one vehicle. A reservoir. Huh. Just like that. Doesn't seem like it's been used for power or production or anything. No, it's not. If you like curvy roads, then the 520 is for you. Not only offers spectacular views, but lots of curvy roads. Some of the smaller roads are like, probably the most curves I had in one go on this entire trip. And it's a nice change of pace. It's a bit like riding in the Alps in some of these smaller back roads in the Alps. Things go well, I should be around three o'clock-ish at the base camp, and I'll have to see what the weather's like if I can attend the bike summer. So, I almost made it. It's probably another 600, 700 meters. I was at 4,000 to get there. It's nice and cool. It's a bit cooler up here, probably 14 degrees. And I'm just having people coming my way. There's not a lot of people going up this time of the day. I made it up here in about an hour's time. I said it would take about two hours, but pretty good for someone that was just riding two weeks on a motorcycle. And it was basically closing a bar down at 2.30 in the morning with Tony, the bartender. So, I had a bit of a hangover this morning. So, it felt pretty good to see it. And I see it in the background. It's not a lot going on. It's probably around 5.30, maybe six o'clock now at night. So, it's a lot fewer people here. Freikeståen rises 604 meters above the Løsefjord, offering one of Norway's most famous mountain hikes. The eight kilometer round trip begins at the mountain lodge, typically taking around four hours to complete. Remarkably, I completed the entire hike in just two hours. Opting for a late afternoon hike allowed me to avoid the crowds. I selected the mountain lodge as my overnight accommodation for its convenience, providing a place to change before the hike and offering the flexibility to embark on the trek early next morning if the weather conditions had not been good enough on my arrival day. This is my last morning in Norway. And yesterday's hike to Freikeståen was basically my last night that I had here. It was nice to get off the bike for a change after riding this bike for two weeks through Norway and just go for a hike. I was quite lucky with the weather. I mean, it did rain at the very top for a little bit when I came down shortly after. It was basically raining the entire night. So, good timing. I could have gone this morning. It's a beautiful morning. I would have had to get up quite early to make the hike. And it might have been a nicer day, but yesterday I just was a good sort of finish to the tour of doing that hike. So, I have one more day. And the initial idea was to take the ferry over the Lusefjord, but what I didn't see when I planned this whole thing that the ferries don't run on Saturdays. The only day they don't run, it's Saturday today. So, that would have been nice to just go over the fjord and then end up at the Lusevig. And that's like a very sort of windy road that goes up from the fjord. It looks really cool. So, I'm going to take the road there because I have time to see it. And I would love to see it. It's one of those things that I didn't get to see last time. So, it's on the list for today and I'll check it out. And then I'll slowly make my way to Stavanger where I have to catch the ferry. That leaves at eight o'clock. So, I should be there around six, the latest. And then this overnight ferry is going to bring me back to Denmark, Fjordhalsen, north of Denmark. And I cannot believe how lucky I've been with the weather because the forecast for this area was really bad. The weather gods have been kind to me on this trip. Most of the main sights I got to see in pretty good light and pretty good weather. But even though this road is relatively straight, it is very scenic. I mean, it stretches for kilometers and kilometers. The overall trip now for me to go from sort of Preikestolen to the end of the fjord where the windy road is, that is about 120 kilometers. So, it's quite a ways to go. I'm at almost 900 meters. Still climbing a little bit. Spectacular landscape again here. The bare rocks, no trees. And I'm guessing as I'm getting over the hill, I'm coming down on the other end, to the east end of the Lusefjord. It's as if the Suleskar Road was tailor-made for motorcycles winding its way amidst fjords and mountains along steep slopes and high ridges. Renowned as one of Norway's best motorcycle roads by Bike Magazine and others, it offers an exhilarating ride. Connecting from the east, the Suleskar Road seamlessly transitions into the Lusevegen Road, famed for its 27 hairpin turns descending from 640 meters above sea level to the fjord level of the Lusefjord and the town of Lusebotn. A two-hour ferry ride from Lusebotn to Forsand along the Lusefjord provides a direct route past Preikestolen. And since there were no scheduled ferry rides that day, I had the opportunity to savor the Suleskar Road once more, concluding my journey towards Stavanger. Whoa, it is windy here at the coastline. So that's the part that's kind of nice, traveling out here. There was a good stretch of it that was supposed to be, well, this is the scenic route, the 547, but this is probably the nicest part I've seen so far. I am too early. I get to wait in the rain. ♪ There's something in the air ♪